Vincent Stalba logged less than a dozen episodes as Carter on The Young and the Restless. However, the actor left a memorable impact on viewers during his short stay. Soap Central is bestowing Performer of the Week honors on Stalba for going out with a bang – in more ways than one – as his time on Y&R came to an end.
The butler did it on The Young and the Restless

Okay, Carter may not have been a butler, but he was the obvious choice as to who Damian’s (Jermaine Rivers) killer was. Who else could it have been? Sally (Courtney Hope)? Michael (Christian LeBlanc)? Outside of Lily (Christel Khalil) and Devon (Bryton James), the other guests barely knew Damian, and some hadn’t even met him! Nobody had a motive except the loyal servant who was hoping to pave the way for a Cane (Billy Flynn) and Lily (Christel Khalil).
Still, Stalba played his role with a robotic calmness that we initially couldn’t figure out why he’d killed Damian. At first, Stalba was almost a comic character. His lack of social skills, refusing to shake Kyle’s (Michael Mealor) hand after he extended his, had us thinking he was daytime's answer to Niles Crane of Frasier fame.
Thanks to the way Stalba played Carter, the character was able to fly under the radar as he appeared sporadically, making emotion-free announcements about what was on the menu. It wasn’t until Damian’s death that all hell broke loose. Carter had Nick (Joshua Morrow) put under house arrest to deflect suspicion away from himself. Stalba brought such a robotic quietness to his character that The Young and the Restless viewers may not have recognized his true danger.
The walls closed in

Once Victor (Eric Braeden) and Chance (Conner Floyd) caught Carter in a lie, Carter cracked. Stalba took Carter from a robotic assistant to a scared little boy, who acted like he’d gotten caught stealing cookies or breaking a family heirloom. He confessed to Cane that he’d done away with Damian to repay his employer for all he’d done for him. Stalba showed just how unbalanced Carter was when he became sad that Cane wasn’t grateful for what he'd done.
Stalba went on to show what a “bad seed” Carter was by having him suggest that he could simply escape and that he and Cane could start over as they’d done in the past. Then, Carter truly went off the deep end by pulling out a gun and taking Lily (Christel Khalil) hostage. “No, I’m not letting her go,” Carter shouted as if he were a child refusing to share a favorite toy.
Cane managed to convince Carter to let Lily go. Then, Carter turned on the man for whom he committed murder. “I made it everything you could want,” Carter reminded his boss of the lavish property. “But it doesn’t matter. None of it. You expect everything and give back nothing.” Carter asked if Cane had any intentions about anything other than Chancellor Industries or anyone other than Lily?
Little boy lost

“People like me, we don’t matter to you,” Carter sadly noted. “Everything I did was for you so you wouldn’t get your hands dirty. Everything I did was to thank you for the life you freed me of. Now, I’ll free you from yours.”
Thanks to Chance’s heroics, Cane’s life was spared, but Chance died from a gunshot wound while struggling with an armed Carter. Then, Cane’s overzealous aid took his own life. Sadly, we’re not likely to learn any additional details about Carter and why he acted the way he did.
Kudos to Vincent Stalba for bringing to life a memorable villain in the misguided Carter, who won’t soon be forgotten by the citizens of Genoa City.
Catch all-new episodes of The Young and the Restless weekdays on CBS and Paramount Plus